Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Review

The Messiah is Risen! But should you bow down and worship it?

It is possible to forge your own blades from bars of iron, steel and precious flamegold. Unlike the very basic crafting of most fantasy games, Dark Messiah ramps up the immersion by prodding players to physically place a bar of steel into a furnace and liquefy it, mold the blade, heat it and hammer it into shape. Then, place the blade to a hilt maker and wrap it in leather. The end result is a finely crafted weapon of superior strength, and a gameplay feature that is impressively well-implemented. A few more materials and some control over the design of the blade or hilt would be nice, however. Likewise, there is no simulated liquid effect when pouring the liquid into the mold - another little thing that would've been nice to see included.

Beautiful character designs feature throughout.

Although it's nice to see a first-person game that doesn't hammer us over the heads with bump-mapping ala Unreal Engine 3, the graphics provided by Source range from eye-popping to shockingly dated looking. The texturework varies greatly - characters are nicely rendered, particularly Leanna, who is a fox. Orcs and goblins look like they were ripped from The Two Towers and are nicely animated. But environmental detail is lacking in polygons - the trees look pitifully sparse and blocky, for instance.

Other strange little shortcuts appear, such as decidedly low-resolution sprite-based rope makes a poor argument for 'why use a polygon when a sprite will do?' Sure, it doesn't affect the gameplay, but it is definitely noticeable enough to players out of the experience. It dulls the sheen of the presentation and does an injustice to the art department's obvious skill.

Water effects, HDR lighting and full-body awareness of key characters are all impressive. The Pao Kai - a terrifically detailed species of dragon - are sequence steelers, and show how capable the art department is when they're clearly having some fun. Again, heavily inspired by Weta's Lord of the Rings school of design, but gorgeous and authentic nonetheless.

Sound design, oft-overlooked by players, is very nicely executed and is, more importantly, fundamental to the gameplay. With a good surround sound setup, environmental audio breathes life into the world. Tramping through the cobblestone streets of small townships, all manner of subtle aural details present themselves to the listener. Everything from the movement of air to the casual conversations and unobtrusive, situation-specific music to the crunch of bones underfoot and the squelchy stick of the webbed floor of a spider's den sound exactly as they should. Hearing the shrill squeal of a Pao Kai in the distance is enough to raise hairs.

32 player multiplayer, developed separately by Kuju entertainment, is also included - at time of testing, we were unable to play through this. Rest assured however, that we will definitely be tackling this aspect in an upcoming feature. As it stands, the game combines distinct classes absent from the single player and combines them with team-based, territory-capturing gameplay.

The Verdict

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is an excellent blend of fantasy and hardcore action. The scripted sequences are some of the coolest we&#Array;ve witnessed this side of Half-Life 2, and it&#Array;s no surprise that the Source engine is responsible for generating some brilliant gravity-gun-free physics joy. The first time you hurtle a barrel at a pair of orcs, one in front of the other, and watch as they both get impaled against a wall of spikes, you&#Array;ll squeal your giddy buttocks off.

It isn&#Array;t perfect, and the graphical shortcuts and occasionally cheap gameplay mechanics prevent it from attaining the elusive &#Array;instant classic&#Array; status. But there is no denying that Dark Messiah is brilliant fun, beautiful and compelling with enough originality to warrant purchase by fans of the series and gamers looking for a more action-oriented RPG. Captivating stuff.